Page 23 of Diamond in the Rough (The Diamond Trilogy 1)
A shuffle and then North is beside me. He places a reassuring hand on my shoulder, and I burst into messy, pointless sobs. “Easy,” he says, though he doesn’t seem to expect me to stop crying. It’s just what he says to soothe me, apparently. “Easy there.”
He pulls me close, and I resist for only one second, two, three, before burying my face in his shoulder. Strong arms embrace me. I breathe in the scents of metal and musk. I must be smearing tears all over his bare skin. It’s probably mixing with dirt and with blood, but that feels right for this place. Macabre, like he said. I cry out my fear and my anger—God, so much anger. Every woman lives in fear of that white van and that black hood. I cry for every moment I spent in fear, every self-defense class, every bottle of mace in my purse. For nothing.
“What do you wish would happen in your life?” I ask. He tells her the things he wishes would happen in his life, even though he knows he’ll die before any of them come true.
“I don’t wish for things.”
“Ever?”
“Not often. I doubt I’ll be leaving this cell alive.”
“Where are we, anyway?” I ask, peering into the dark. “Some kind of prison?”
An ache strikes my heart. I miss my Keurig coffee maker and my toothbrush. Simple things. They were easy to take for granted, but I miss them now. There’s a typewriter ornament that London gave me for Christmas. I hang it on the lamp on my desk year-round.
Will I ever see that glossy pink typewriter again?
“A church, actually. It was converted to a prison during the French Revolution.”
“It feels wrong to keep people in a church. I guess Adam isn’t a religious type.”
When my tears have slowed to a trickle, he gently pushes me aside and stands. “You know—” He sounds thoughtful. I can hear the sound of something grinding, feel the faint vibrations through the air as he pushes. “There’s a solid three inches.”
I swipe my cheeks. “I’m not actually a tooth fairy.”
“No, but you’re slender. I felt it just now. Small boned. Slim.”
“I still won’t fit.”
“Maybe. I might be able to pull the iron. I noticed that the first time I explored here, that I could pull it out of place another few inches, but it didn’t matter because I couldn’t fit through.”
It doesn’t sound like enough, but hope blooms like wildflowers in a meadow. Irrepressible. And abundant. “Do you really think it might work?”
“Maybe.” His voice comes over a faint grinding that must be him working at the wood. “And I can chip away some of this rotted stuff to make more room. It would probably hurt you. No, I won’t lie. It definitely will hurt you. Might even break a rib to get out. Understand?”
“I understand,” I say, almost bouncing with excitement.
“No, I don’t think you do.”
“It means I can get out. It means we can escape.”
“Not me, sweetheart. Only you.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
North
Her breath catches, and I wish I could comfort her worry away. I wish I could be the white knight to save her from this. Instead I’m the dying boy in her story.
I scrape away the rotting wood, using my hand like a bear paw. It’s tearing my palm to shit, but it doesn’t matter. If I can save her, maybe this whole fucking thing will be worth it. Steal some diamonds, they said. It will be easy, they said. And it was. That’s the hell of it. Stealing the diamonds was easy enough. Keeping them. That’s the hard part.
My head spins, and I have to force myself to remain standing.
How big does the space need to be? I put my hand on her, and she goes abruptly still, like a rabbit caught in the mouth of a wolf. I suppose that’s what we are—prey and predator.
I can almost wrap my hands fully around her waist. Not quite.
This is the thinnest space on her body. It’s also the most tender. The iron will rip her soft skin. It will tear her tendons and muscles. Damage her organs.
It’s her only chance of escape.
I could never have fit through this space. Even half-starved I’ve got leftover muscle. Big bones. The kind of body that can’t fit through a hole in the wall, no matter how much it breaks.
“You ready?”
Her voice shakes. “I’m ready.”
“Brave girl. You start going through. I’ll push you the rest of the way.”
An audible swallow. “Okay.”
“Once you’re out, you head up the stairs. Go left down the hallway. Down another flight of stairs. That’ll take you to the back, to the entrance they don’t use. Once you hit the forest, you run like the fucking wind. Don’t stop for anything, understand? No matter how much it hurts.”
“Up the stairs. Left down the hallway. Down the stairs. Got it.”
